Illegal Aliens Fleeing Arizona

Good.  A little enforcement goes a long way.

The U.S. government estimates 100,000 unauthorized migrants left Arizona after the state passed an employer sanctions law three years ago requiring companies to verify workers’ status using a federal computer system. There are no figures for the number who have left since the new law passed in April.

Some are heading back to Mexico or to neighboring states. Others are staying put and taking their chances.

In a sign of a gathering exodus, Mexican businesses from grocers and butcher shops to diners and beauty salons have shut their doors in recent weeks as their owners and clients leave.

For those who peddle the spin that “we can’t deport all of the illegals” merely have to look at cases like this.  We don’t have to physically deport all of them.  We merely have to be serious about enforcing our existing laws and they will take their travel expenses upon themselves. 

West Digs Deeper

Ummmm… riiiiiiightt...

Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West, who drew a tidal wave of reaction when she said last month that Arizona had no border with Mexico, attributes that remark to distractions of other issues being heard by the board.

“Of course, Arizona is on the border with Mexico and I made a speaking error that many people have been unable to forgive,” West said during a radio interview that aired Monday on WISN-AM (1130).

She said Arizona had no border with Mexico during a debate on a resolution calling for the county to boycott doing business with Arizona over its new immigration law.  Other issues before the County Board at its June meeting—censuring Supervisor Lynne De Bruin and state-ordered repairs to the Mental Health Compex—distracted her, West said on the County Board-produced radio show.

“I should have better organized my comments,” she said. She intended to make the point that it would have been more understandable if a state like Texas with several populous cities on the Mexico border had passed an immigration law like Arizona, West said.

She meant to say that “the large population centers of Arizona are much further from the border” than Texas cities, according to West.

Hmmmm… let’s look at the 5 biggest cities in Texas and their distance from the Mexican border (measured as the crow flies on Google Earth).

Houston - 300 miles from border
Dallas - 350 miles from border
San Antonio - 130 miles from border
Austin - 200 miles from border
El Paso - ON the border

And Arizona:

Phoenix - 110 miles from border
Tucson - 65 miles from border
Mesa - 120 miles from border
Glendale - 120 miles from border
Scottsdale - 118 miles from border

So… Texas has precisely one of its top 5 cities that is closer to the border than ALL of Arizona’s top 5 cities.  What was West’s alleged point?

Finding Peggy West’s borders

My column for the Daily News is online.  It’s called, “Finding Peggy West’s borders.”  Here’s the main point:

Supervisor West’s exhibition also serves as a valuable reminder of that which every American instinctively knows. One is not necessarily more intelligent by virtue of being elected to serve in office. Politicians should remember that fact when they seek to enact laws with ramifications well beyond their capacity to understand.

Idiocracy In Action

ODL!